Tea cup and saucer

c. 1810

Measurements

Cup: 1-7/8 in x 3-1/2 in (dia); saucer: 1-1/4 in x 5-5/8 in (dia)

Materials

Enameled porcelain

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.722

Inscription

A printed label pasted to the outside of the saucer reads, "H. A. EBERHARDT & SON / ART & CHINA REPAIRING / 213 S. 11th ST., PHILA., PA."

Condition Notes

The cup has a stress crack, and two pieces, broken out of the side, are now repaired with staples.  The saucer has stapled repairs and surface fills that have now discolored.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

This cup and saucer appears to be part of a large and important set, popularly called the "Quaker Farmer" pattern and identified as having been made for Israel Wistar Morris (1778-1870) and Mary Hollingsworth Morris (1776-1820) of Philadelphia.  Mary's sketchbook, now at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC, includes a drawing of the scene reproduced on this porcelain.  Israel and his brothers were engaged in the China trade and may have order the porcelain set based on that image.  Similar porcelain sets of the "Quaker Farmer" pattern survived in different branches of the Morris family.

The grisaille image shows a farmer, a cow, and his dog at his feet with farm buildings in the background.  All of the elements in the scene are decidedly Western, rather than Asian.

This and related sets are discussed in Brian J. Lang, From East to West:  "Quaker Farmer" Chinese Export Porcelain in America, exhibition catalogue, Dumbarton House, Washington DC, October 25 2005 - October 28, 2006; Herbert, Peter, and Nancy Schiffer, China for America:  Export Porcelain of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Exton, PA:  Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 1997), pp. 172-173; and Jean McClure Mudge, Chinese Export Porcelain for the American Trade, 1785-1835 (Newark:  University of Delaware Press, 1962), p. 118.  Mudge mistakenly identifies the original owner as Isaac Morris, rather than Israel Morris.